El Golfo

MEXICO: Sonora

General Description. Croxen et al. (2007) describe the geography and geology at some
length. The El Golfo local fauna of northwestern Sonora comes from a coastal strip of badland
topography near the community of El Golfo de Santa Clara. About 255 km2 are exposed and
consist of Colorado River deltaic deposits.

Discussion. In addition to the taxa listed below, there were several family-level
identifications (Croxen et al. 2007): Ictaluridae (catfish), Istiophoridae (billfish), Iguanidae
(iguanid lizards), Tetraonidae? (grouse), and Mephitidae ("genus of unidentified
skunk"). Based largely on the recovered fauna, Croxen et al. (2007) hypothesized the presence
of four ecological communities: freshwater aquatic, riparian gallery forest, shrub and brush woodland,
and savannah-like grassland. They also suggested that tropical to subtropical climates may have predominated.